Young members of the party delivered a message to chairperson of Al-Dostour Party Mohamed ElBaradei in response to Eissa’s resignation.(AFP Photo)

The Al-Dostour Party announced that it considers the resignation of Hossam Eissa who headed the party’s steering committee a huge loss.

The party said Eissa was not only a founder of the party, but is also one of the people who came up with the idea of founding it. “He has presented important effort in the past months building the party…” the party said in a statement.

The party said it appreciates Eissa’s efforts and respects his desire to leave the scene. The Al-Dostour Party has been going through internal rifts over the course of the past few months.

Al-Dostour said that there are differences on political practices, but that these differences reflect a variety of opinions and ideas and are among the characteristics that distinguish the party. Eissa was leading a movement to restructure the party which has been going through internal rifts.

Student members of the party in Alexandria released a statement announcing their complete solidarity with Eissa. They have demands which include dismissing certain party members who they hold responsible for what is going on inside the party and reinstating Eissa and compensating him in the way he sees fit.

The youth say that if these demands are not met, they will resign. They said their demands are not negotiable and announced that a sit-in will be staged in all party headquarters until they are met. They ended their statement with a message to the party head Mohamed ElBaradei telling him that he can either choose the youth and students of the party or the beneficiaries.

The students said they were hoping Eissa would correct the path of the party but some figures inside the party did not cooperate with him and got in his way “refusing to publish his statements on the party’s official pages.”

In January 2013, around 120 of the youth of the party staged a sit-in in objection to decisions by ElBaradei to appoint members in influential committees and his refusal to dismiss other members.

After the death of party member Sha’arawy Abdel Baqy Sha’arawy of a heart attack during a meeting with party figures, the rift inside the party was even more exacerbated. Sha’arawy died after fierce discussions in which he called for electing rather than appointing party representatives.

The Al-Dostour Party is currently preparing for its first General Conference in which the party will discuss its political program and adopt new party regulations.